Xbox Scraps Rare's 'Everwild' As Parent Company Microsoft Lays Off 9,000 Employees
Rare’s Everwild game has reportedly been scrapped as the developer’s parent company, Microsoft lays off 9,000 employees.
Microsoft announced that it will layoff around 4% of its global workforce or around 9,000 employees across various different teams as well as locations and experience.
A Microsoft spokesman told CNBC, “We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace.”
One of the places seemingly being affected is Rare as VGC reported that “employees are likely to lose their jobs as part of broader restructuring of Sea of Thieves developer Rare.”
Additionally, Rare’s in-development title Everwild has been scrapped.
Everwild was initially announced back in 2019 during the Xbox X019 presentation and described the game as a third-person action-adventure AAA game. Rare also noted at the time that it was “building an experience that allows for new ways to play in a natural and magical world.”
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However, in 2021 it was reported by Andy Robinson at VGC that the initial concept behind the game had been “completely rebooted.”
Robinson wrote, “According to people with knowledge of Everwild‘s development, the game’s design has essentially been ‘restarted from scratch,’ which means it will likely be several years before it releases.”
What do you make of Everwild getting shut down?